3 new Giants make Grantland's '10 worst free agent deals' so far

Outside linebacker Jonathan Casillas is one free agent the Giants may have overpaid this offseason. (AP Photo | Michael Conroy)

One year after Giants general manager Jerry Reese threw around money like a drunken sailor in free agency, doling out $116 million in contracts, the team is spending more in the "fruits and nuts" category of free agents in 2015.

Forget making a serious bid for Ndamukong Suh or getting in a bidding war for one of the few quality safeties available (though they did make a play for top safety Devin McCourty before he re-signed with the Patriots). The Giants appear content to tinker with the depth on their roster and cross their fingers for internal improvement at key positions.

To be sure, having quality depth is important, a lesson the Giants have learned the hard way after injuries decimated the roster the last two seasons. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's wise to give $14.58 million in guarantees to three part-time players.

Grantland's Bill Barnwell agrees. Barnwell took stock of the early signings during the first week of 2015 free agency to figure out which contracts were the worst handed out so far. Among his top 10 selections were three of the five new players the Giants have signed this offseason: Linebackers Jonathan Casillas (three years, $8 million, $2.975 million guaranteed) and J.T. Thomas (three years, $12 million, $4.5 million guaranteed), and kick returner Dwayne Harris (Five years, $17.5 million, $7.1 million guaranteed).

Barnwell theorizes that all three players were brought in to shore up the Giants' mediocre special teams (a unit that, Barnwell notes, wasn't all that bad, ranking 15th in DVOA), but that in all three cases, they overpaid for "replacement-level football players."

Casillas' numbers back up this assessment. He's never been a three-down linebacker, and while he might get an opportunity for more regular playing time (he played for new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo while a member of the Saints), Casillas could very well end up as an expensive backup.

Barnwell's question of whether you would rather have Thomas and Casillas or an ascendant young player like Sheard with significantly greater upside (at a position of need, no less) crystallizes why those signings were questionable. It's not clear why the Giants felt the need to bid against themselves for two players that barely stood out for their previous teams.

Harris is also coming off of his worst season as a returner, falling to 13th in average yards per kick return and ninth in average yards per punt return, after ranking second and third in those categories, respectively, in 2013. As Barnwell notes, if Reese wanted to give $7 million in guarantees to a returner, he probably should have targeted one that could also help as a receiver and protect against Victor Cruz immediately returning to his Pro Bowl form. With 33 career receptions, Harris doesn't quite fit that profile.

Whether these additions are a knee-jerk reaction from Reese to address the talent at the fringes of the roster, it is clear he overpaid and that with good scouting and shrewd drafting he could have found equally capable players at a fraction of the price.